DOCTOR WHO: The Eternity Shaft (Script)
by combineoverlywatcher
Summary: When the Doctor and his companion, Emma, end up in a strange foreign tunnel, they are separated by time and space itself. But the Doctor is quick on his feet; with the help of an acquaintance, he ends up finding exactly what he was looking for.


**DOCTOR WHO: THE ETERNITY SHAFT**

_by Jackson Mosher_

**Cast of Characters:**

The Doctor

Emma Fredericks (Companion)

Thuan Selt

Armanus Crye

(The TARDIS materializes in a dim, empty tunnel. Street noises, such as car engines, are heard. The TARDIS door opens, and the Doctor peeks out his head.)

Doctor: Hello. Never been here before.

(He steps outside and frowns. Emma peeks out her head.)

Emma: Where are we?

Doctor: Dunno. Somewhere foreign, definitely.

Emma: You don't know where we are?

Doctor: No, I honestly don't. But that's the fun part! The sense of adventure! The mystery!

(Doctor pulls Emma out of the TARDIS and starts dancing with her, humming a tune. Emma laughs, then stops. All the noise is gone.)

Emma: Hold on…

Doctor: What? What is it?

Emma: Those noises. The cars. The people.

Doctor: What about them?

Emma: They're…gone. I heard them in the TARDIS, I swear I did, but now they're not there anymore. It's like—

(Loud beeping from the TARDIS. Doctor runs toward it.)

Doctor: Now, what is _that?_

(He runs inside and Emma follows him. In the TARDIS.)

Doctor: What's wrong, old girl? What's happened?

Emma: The noises! I can hear them again!

Doctor (at the screen): Ooh, she's not liking this one bit. She's not giving me anything, but she's using all of her power to stay here. We can't even leave.

Emma: _What?_

(The screen explodes with electrical energy, and the Doctor falls.)

Doctor (getting up): I don't know what's out there, but it's making the TARDIS upset, and that's a problem, because whenever the TARDIS gets upset, she likes to not work. So she's useless now.

Emma: So what are we supposed to do?

Doctor: We need to find what's out there. What's driving her nuts. We can't sit around and wait, can we?

Emma: I guess not. There's really no other option.

Doctor: But that's just what we came here for! A new world! A new place! New people! New life! It's exciting, even though…we're being forced on it. But no worries. Come on then.

Emma: Alright.

(They start heading out, but the Doctor stops her.)

Doctor: Let me just check outside for a minute. See if it's dangerous.

Emma (nodding): Alright. There's no harm in that, I suppose.

Doctor: Right, then. One minute, and then off we go!

(Doctor smiles, and then leaves. Outside the TARDIS. He takes a few steps away from the box. Long pause looking around. Then, flourish of energy and the Doctor falls inside a crowd of people, under a woman.)

Woman: Sorry! Sorry! Oh my gosh! Are you all right? Here, let's get you up on your feet. (Helps Doctor to stand.) There, now.

(The Doctor is too perplexed to speak. Stutters.)

Woman: Oh. My apologies. I'd better make myself acquainted. (Holding out her hand to shake and smiling) I'm Ms. Selt, Ms. Thuan Selt. And you are?

[THEME]

(Inside the TARDIS. Silence, then a flourish of energy and the doors slam and lock. Emma is shocked.)

Emma: Doctor? Doctor! Doctor! Doctor, help! Doctor! The doors are locked! I can't get out!

(Outside the TARDIS. Banging on the doors and more shouting, but the tunnel is completely deserted. Back to Ms. Selt and the Doctor.)

Doctor: Hold on… (Looking toward where the TARDIS was, but it is now gone.) Oh, no. Oh, _no_. No, don't do that on me. Don't you _dare_–

Selt: Excuse me? Mister? (Holds out her hand). What was your name?

Doctor (still looking over her): I'm . . . the – the Doctor. (Noticing her hand and looking forward again) Hello. Nice to meet you. (Smiles. Takes out sonic screwdriver and starts scanning around.)

Selt: Doctor? Doctor who?

Doctor: Just…the Doctor. (Looking above Thuan and through the crowd, and putting the sonic screwdriver away.) By chance, have you seen a blue box lying around here? Just…a notion. I like to observe.

Selt (smiling): Well, there are no blue boxes here, Mr. Doctor.

Doctor: Oh, _well_. I guess I'm going to have to go the long way then. That's always fun. (Starts walking with Ms. Selt and the crowd.)

Selt: What do you mean? Are you lost?

Doctor: Yes, I suppose. Without my blue box.

Selt: Oh, the box is _yours?_

Doctor: Yes, it's my…um… (he trails off). What's the date today, if I may ask?

Selt: Well, it's the eighth of Galeptan. I thought everyone knew that.

Doctor: Oh…oh… (moment of realization)…_oh_, this is _Carbille_! (Pronounced car-bill-ee)

Selt: Well, yeah, what other planet would it be?

Doctor: I don't know. I _am_ very lost.

Selt: Well, where are you coming from? Hurlenford? Norlance?

Doctor: Yeah, yeah, Norlance, that's the place… (trails off and looks to "TARDIS" again.)

Selt: Nice city.

Doctor (looking forward after "yeah"): Yeah…so this is Carbille? What year?

Selt (scoffing): Huh, what do you mean what year?

Doctor: I'm…very lost.

Selt: Well, quite a lot more than I thought. It's 4507. End of the MC.

Doctor: MC?

Selt: Meteor Cycle? What this tunnel was built for?

Doctor (after a few seconds): Oh! Yes! Carbille! The Meteor Cycle! The 68-year Meteor Cycle!

Selt: That's the one.

Doctor: I can't believe I forgot that! You humans! Prepared for anything! Even the destruction of an entire terrain! Now _that's_ living on the edge! Oh yes!

Selt: Where are you being placed? I'm 3662985. That's my compartment number.

Doctor (holding out psychic paper): Same one. That's me.

Selt: Oh, great! I haven't met one of my roommates yet!

Doctor: Yes, yes…so tell me, is there a storage area anywhere in this tunnel?

Selt (surprised by the change of subject): Well…yes. There'll be one up ahead. But they're all locked. You can't get in. It's for the organizers.

Doctor: Organizers?

Selt: People that organize the traffic between the land and the core. Don't you think this system is neat though? Having us all, all 465 million of us, walk from the terrain up above to the center of the planet in just three measly months? It used to be the meteors came and then we'd get blown away and start a new civilization from scratch, but now it's so different. We continue our lives down here. Isn't it great? I've only been here once before. I loved it though.

Doctor: Fascinating, the human race. Never stops thinking of new ways to keep on living.

Selt: It's great, I know. (Pointing to a door very far forward of them.) Oh, there! There it is! The storage area! Do you have a key?

Doctor (holding up his sonic screwdriver and smiling): Don't need one.

Selt: Well what's that then?

Doctor: A screwdriver.

Selt: A screwdriver?

Doctor: A sonic one. It's very handy.

Selt: I've never seen anything like that before. Where did you get it? Was it at Relshee's? That man always sells the strangest things.

Doctor: No, no, I got it from…a long way away. A very long way away.

Selt: Alright, then. If you want to be all secretive about it, that's fine with me.

Doctor: That's how I like to be. So, what do the storage areas hold, exactly?

Selt: No one knows. Maintenance. Stuff like that. Really nothing important.

Doctor: Is that so?

Selt: Yeah, that's what I've heard. Everyone says they're empty. Just built for nothing, I guess.

Doctor: So…no one knows what's inside?

Selt: No.

Doctor (smiling): Doesn't that make you curious?

Selt: Well, sure, I guess.

(In front of them, at the side of the tunnel, there is a small railed staircase about six feet high, which leads up to the storage door. The Doctor runs up it once they reach it.)

Doctor (arriving at the storage door): Well, let have a look then, shall we? (Holds out his hand for Ms. Selt.)

Selt (reluctant): Oh, well, I don't know about that, it's highly unethical—

Doctor: Oh, come on. Have a little fun. Come with me.

Selt: Well…alright, but make sure it's safe.

Doctor (unlocking the door and smiling at her): Don't worry, Ms. Selt, you'll be safe with me. Let's go. (They enter the door.)

(Inside the storage area. It is a plain room with shelves, boxes, and a couple doors. Everything else is bare wood except for one door that is painted white. The Doctor and Ms. Selt enter then close the door behind them.)

Selt (wrinkling her nose in disgust): That's a nice smell in here.

Doctor: Antichlorimase. Amazing preservative. Can last thousands of years on end.

Selt: Yeah, yeah, whatever. (A pause during which the Doctor looks through the room). So…we'd best get going soon. We'll miss the crowd. Your blue box isn't even in here.

Doctor: I'm not looking for the box.

Selt: But you lost it.

Doctor: I did. I'm just not looking for it right now. I'm looking for something else. Something…strange. Something unusual. Anything out of order.

Selt: What do you mean? You're not an organizer.

Doctor: No, I'm the Doctor.

Selt: So why are we here? Everything else is outside with the others.

Doctor: Really? Then why don't they have anything with them?

Selt: Bags are transported separately. Do you not know anything?

Doctor: No. No, I really don't.

Selt: Then you can't possibly be from around here!

Doctor: Well, I'm not. And you're just going to have to deal with that, aren't you?

Selt: I just want to know why we're here. In a _storage_ room. There's nothing in here! I can see it now, they were right, it's empty!

Doctor: Tell me, Ms. Selt, when you see a stage performance, where do you usually find the most information?

Selt: Um…why?

Doctor: Just answer the question.

Selt (hesitantly): In the program, of course.

Doctor: Nope.

Selt: Then _where?_

Doctor (holding up a bucket full of water): Backstage.

(The Doctor swings the bucket toward the door to his left, clearing off the white paint to reveal a wooden door labeled "Main Controls.")

Doctor: Now, when's the last time you've seen a tunnel that had controls?

Selt (smiling): I think you've found it, Doctor!

Doctor: Right you are. (He sonics the door and opens it.) Off we go.

(Inside the "Main Controls" room. It is a long, dimly lit hallway with doors on every side. There is a door at the end of the hall, but it is not visible to the audience. The Doctor, not looking at the door to the front, quickly unlocks the first door and enters it. Ms. Selt does not follow, but instead stares at the door. It is still not shown to the audience.)

Selt: You said you're looking for—

Doctor (looking through the room, out of the shot): Yes, yes, I know, something unusual, I told you that—

Selt: But you said you—

Doctor: Yes, I found it, I know—(sonic screwdriver pulse)—but there's something more here.

Selt: Doctor—

Doctor (sticking his head out of the doorway): What?

(The Doctor looks forward and stares at the end of the hallway, which is not shown.)

Doctor: That can't—

Selt: Is that it?

Doctor: No, it can't be here—

Selt: But it is, isn't it?

Doctor: Yes, it's…

(The end of the hallway slowly comes into view. It looks identical to the front doors of the TARDIS.)

Doctor: …it's my blue box! Well, not my blue box, someone else's. Well, someone's replica. Because there's only one left, and that's not it, because I can—

(The Doctor holds out his key, which is glowing gold.)

Doctor: Feel…it. (A short pause). Emma.

Selt: Who's Emma?

(The Doctor urges her to go forward, since the hallway is too narrow for them to switch spots. She leads him, and he gives her the key.)

Doctor: This is only _temporary_. You're not keeping this. Just use it to get in and give it back.

Selt: Well, I wasn't planning on doing much else.

(Ms. Selt steps toward the doors and tries to put the key in the lock. It doesn't work, and it is revealed that there is no lock.)

Selt (pulling on the unmoving door handles): Uh, Doctor…

Doctor: What?

Selt: There's no lock. I can't get in.

Doctor: What do you mean there's no lock?

Selt: There's no hole for the key!

Doctor: There's no lock? Of the course there's a lock! It's a TARDIS! It always has a lock!

Selt: It's a _what?_

Doctor: Nothing.

Selt: Just help me get this door open!

Doctor (holding up his sonic screwdriver): Allow me.

Selt: Alrighty then, be my guest.

(Ms. Selt scrunches against the wall as the Doctor reaches over her and activates the pulse on the door. A click behind the door is heard. The Doctor frowns, confused.)

Doctor (staring, perplexed, at the sonic screwdriver): I just locked it.

Selt: What do you mean? It was just locked.

Doctor: It's never been locked. It's just been dormant this whole time. It's been waiting for something. Waiting for me.

Selt: For _you?_ What's so special about you?

Doctor: Hello? It's _my_ box!

Selt (remaining calm): Alright, then. What's inside?

Doctor: I don't know. I have no idea. This is a fake, just a door. Let's go find out for ourselves, shall we? But first… (He motions for Ms. Selt to give him the key and she does.)

(The Doctor opens the door and they enter.)

(Inside the TARDIS. Emma is silent and upset, sitting against the TARDIS door. There is a long pause. Then, suddenly, a holographic image of the Doctor appears in front of the console.)

Emma (standing): Doctor!

Doctor: This is an automatic pre-recorded message. It has been set to activate if myself and the TARDIS are separated into different temporal-spatial regions, and the TARDIS is without me for more than an hour. If this separation continues, the TARDIS will begin to decay, and the chemicals released in this decay are deadly. So, I advise that if anyone is still in the TARDIS now, then they should evacuate immediately. Thank you.

Emma: Doctor—

(The image fades away and Emma begins sobbing.)

Emma: Doctor, I'm still here! Doctor, I'm trapped! Doctor, save me. Please.

(Emma leans up against the TARDIS door, as if pleading to something outside of it.)

Emma: Please, Doctor. Come save me.

(Inside a lift. The doors are opened, and the Doctor and Ms. Selt start to walk through. But before they have time to close the door, it shuts automatically, leaving Ms. Selt behind, and the lift immediately begins descending, revealing that it is simply a platform inside of a glass box. The room around the glass box is vast, but cluttered to seem smaller. As the platform lowers, the Doctor looks around the room with disgust. There are several cryogenic holding tanks lining the walls, with people inside of them. A man's voice is heard behind the single door in the room.)

Man: What? No, you must be mistaken. I didn't issue this! He doesn't even have luggage! How am I supposed to know who he is? (A pause.) Alright, alright, alright, I'll look.

(The door opens to reveal a small old man. The lift finishes descending and he and the Doctor are level.)

Man: May I help you?

Doctor: I'm the Doctor. Who are you?

Man: The Doctor, you say? A doctor of medicine? I've had a few of those. They're somewhere in here.

Doctor: What have you done to those people? Who are you?

Man: Now, don't be so quick to judge, dear Doctor. They're perfectly fine. Now what's your name?

Doctor: I'm the Doctor.

Man: Doctor what?

Doctor: Just the Doctor!

Man: No, you're not. I've seen a man called the Doctor. We all have. He looks nothing like you.

Doctor: If you really knew the Doctor you wouldn't be so doubtful. Now who are you and what are you doing to these people?

Man: They are in cryogenic stasis. Perfectly healthy.

Doctor: But why are they here?

Man: I need them. For an experiment.

Doctor: So you stole them and used them as test subjects?

Man: They came to _me!_ They came through _my_ tunnel! I have the right!

Doctor: Hold on, _your_ tunnel?

Man: Yes, _my_ tunnel. Don't act so surprised.

Doctor: But your tunnel was built to help the people, not use them for your own benefit! Why are they here? What's your experiment?

Man: Like I'm telling you. You know, you're clever, Doctor. You ask a lot of questions. I think I'll keep you conscious. Well, I say conscious. I mean you'll be more conscious then the rest of the people in the room. (Short chuckle). But I'm not letting you in on anything like this. (He presses a button on a panel). Take him away. Put him somewhere…safe. Take a blood sample. Find out who he is.

Doctor: I'm the Doctor! I told you!

Man: It's going to take a lot more than words to convince me, Doctor. Now, go to sleep…

(The glass wall behind the Doctor is opened and a man in a black suit injects a needle into his back, incapacitating him. The Doctor is dragged out of the lift, and then darkness.)

(Inside the TARDIS. The room is engulfed in smoke. Emma is lying up against the TARDIS door, unconscious. Suddenly, the door behind her opens, and she is dragged away by a silhouetted man. The TARDIS door is closed, and the room is plunged into darkness.)

(Inside a dim, dull, stone room that looks rather like a jail cell. The Doctor is restrained to a thick seat. His view is shown, hazily seeing a man and trying to get in focus. It is shown to be the man that the Doctor had spoken to earlier. There is a bench in the room. Third-person view is shown when the man begins to speak.)

Man (sitting on the bench): The Doctor, was it?

(The Doctor does not reply, but looks at him in disgust.)

Man: You have permission to say "I told you so."

Doctor (after a long pause): The TARDIS.

Man: I'm sorry?

Doctor: The TARDIS. Why the TARDIS?

Man: What are you talking about?

Doctor: The door. Why was it painted that way?

Man: Well what do you think, clever Doctor? You do always have the answer.

Doctor: To lure me in, but why?

Man: Oh, good. Good, clever, Doctor. A smart one, you are.

Doctor: Why was the door painted blue?

Man: Because I need you. For my experiment.

Doctor: Why me, though? You have the others!

Man: Your blood. I need your blood. It's no use hiding it. You're restrained, and have no means of escape. I need your blood, Doctor. For my experiment. The blood of a Time Lord.

Doctor: How do you know about me?

Man: We all know you, Doctor. You travel the _universe_. Everyone knows about you. But there are people who choose to believe the stories and those who don't. They all believe in you, Doctor. Which is why they're here.

Doctor: They're here because you _took_ them—

Man: No! You never believe me! No, Doctor! They are here to escape the meteors! They are safe! I _made_ them _safe!_

Doctor: But in return you took them from their families. What good is being safe when you can't be happy?

Man: Time's up, Doctor. I've made my choice. They're staying. Until they die. But you're a Time Lord. You can't die of old age. If I can use you, they're free. Back to their families. Happy and safe. What you could give me would be much greater than what they could ever hope to.

Doctor: But what are they giving you?

Man: Energy. Time energy. I need their time energy.

Doctor: _Why?_

Man: I'm building a time machine. It won't be a TARDIS, not even close, but it'll get me where I want to go.

Doctor: Where do you want to go?

Man (chuckling): That's classified information.

Doctor: But how do you expect to build it from them? They're normal human beings! Normal, simple, regular human beings! You can't get time energy from them!

Man: Oh, but I _can_, Doctor. One's luggage can reveal many things.

Doctor: You look through their _luggage?_ For _what?_

Man: Fingerprints. Nothing more. The luggage comes in, I take their fingerprints, and I send them through to where they need to go. It's not harmful, not at all. But I find out a lot about them. What they've touched.

Doctor: And what have these people touched, exactly?

Man: Your TARDIS. It gives off quite a lot of time energy.

Doctor: My TARDIS? I haven't seen any of those people before in my life, in hundreds of years of time and space, I've never seen these people!

Man: But they've seen _you,_ Doctor. They've seen your TARDIS. They've touched it. Every time you travel, you just park it and leave it. And the people around it gather its energy.

Doctor: So you use them for your own purposes?

Man (smiling): Yes, Doctor. And it's brilliant.

Doctor: No, it's cruel! Every day these people are losing blood, all because of you!

Man: That's why I'm giving you a choice, Doctor. Leave here and they stay, or stay here and they leave. It's up to you.

Doctor: I can't! I have a friend that I left behind! I can't just leave her!

Man: Then sooner or later, they will all die.

Doctor (after a long pause going through a moral struggle): I'll do it. But promise me they leave.

Man: Your wish is my command. (Pressing a button on a panel in the room) Guard.

(A man in a black body suit enters, the "guard.")

Man: Take him to the stasis chamber.

(The Doctor looks down at his feet, thinking over what he'd just done.)

Man: And let the others go. I don't need them anymore. Just him.

Guard: Yes, Mr. Crye.

Doctor: Mr. Crye?

Man: Mr. Armanus Crye. It's been nice doing business with you, Doctor. I'm afraid we won't be seeing each other again for a very, very long time.

(The guard extracts the needle from his pocket. As it is injected into the Doctor's neck, his view is shown, growing hazier and blurrier until complete darkness is reached.)

(Two days later. Fade in on a human-sized tank, holding the Doctor. He is hooked up to several tubes, including one large tube in his mouth for air. He is unconscious. The tank is hooked up to one enormous computer. This is all is one small room with one door. Mr. Crye enters.)

Crye: Well, Doctor, the others have left. Because of you. And now my machine is ready. The blood of a Time Lord. Excellent quality. I will run the first test shortly. (He goes to the computer and uses it, then turns back to the Doctor). Sleep tight. (He chuckles, and then leaves).

(One hour later. Mr. Crye returns to the room, and uses the computer again. He leaves, and then is shown entering another room, which contains a central console with many levers. At one wall, there is a long, enormous window that shows the citizens of Carbille moving through the tunnel. A high-pitched beeping emits from the console, and Mr. Crye, grinning, begins pulling the levers, but after a while, sparks emit from one side of the console. Mr. Crye frowns and enters the other room. While looking at the computer, he frowns again worriedly.)

Crye: No…

(In the console room, all sides of the console explode in sparks.)

Crye: No! No!

(He returns to the console room among the explosions, and tries vainly to fix the problem. The people in the tunnel are blurred, and then disappear. The exploding room then fades into white.)

(Many years later. The Doctor is still in the tank, but the room is a wreck. The computer is broken, cracked and blank. The tank is intact. Suddenly, the water in the tank begins to lower, and the Doctor moves with it, ending up hanging by the tank's tubes. He eventually falls from it, colliding with the tank's floor. A few minutes later, the door to the room is opened by someone who is not shown. They hold up the sonic screwdriver and activate it, cracking the glass and shattering it into miniscule pieces, and the Doctor falls out of the tank and onto the floor. He is picked up by the mysterious person and carried out of the room.)

(A table. The Doctor is set on it, and the mysterious person performs CPR on him. Eventually, the Doctor coughs and is conscious.)

Doctor: Hello, Ms. Selt.

Selt: Hello, Doctor.

Doctor (frowning): What are you doing here?

Selt: Saving you, of course.

Doctor (sitting up): What's happened? What have I missed?

Selt (hesitantly): Everyone's gone, Doctor. After Armanus tested his time machine, everyone disappeared. My way back was blocked, so I held onto the doors to that lift when everything started going wrong, and now you and I are the only ones left. Something happened to that time machine, and I think it has to do with the disappearances. I don't know how, though. He left your sonic screwdriver in his office, and after everything went wrong and the door broke, I used the lift to get there. I found it, on accident, but I couldn't find you. So, I used it to go back into the tunnel. And, well, nobody was there. So I went back. I spent days trying to find you. I found out a lot about Armanus and his time machine. I couldn't find what went wrong though. I couldn't even find the machine itself, and when I did, it was in ruins. That's when I found you. And here we are.

Doctor: It malfunctioned? With _my_ blood?

Selt: _Your_ blood? What do you mean?

Doctor (getting off of the table and examining the broken time machine console): I'm an alien, Ms. Selt. I'm a Time Lord. From Gallifrey. I travel in time and space, and that's the kind of energy that Armanus wanted to harness. That's why I didn't have any luggage, and that's why I knew nothing about the planet. I'm lost here. I lost my blue box. But I'm going to get it back. Somehow. I know I will. But first… (he motions for her to give him the sonic screwdriver, and she does). Why did the time machine malfunction? It was perfect, really, a perfect time machine, ready to go, then _bang_, it blew up right in his face. Poor guy. He was a nice man, really. Just…didn't have a very good means of getting what he wanted.

Selt (after a pause): What were you looking for, Doctor?

Doctor: Hmm?

Selt: When we were in the storage area. You said you wanted to find something. Something unusual. Why?

Doctor (hesitantly – looking for words to use): A—while back, um…I came here. In my blue box. It's my sort of…ship. And it malfunctioned. Just like that time machine there. Then it left me, just like that. I've been trying to find out what went wrong ever since. That's all I'm doing here, looking for answers.

Selt: Well, that's good, because so am I.

Doctor: So, why are you still here? It's been years. I can sense it, it's been a very, very long time since I've been outside that stasis chamber, but your still here, healthy and thriving. How is that possible?

Selt: I don't know, I really don't. It's only felt like a few days.

Doctor: Well, that's odd—(he scans her with the sonic screwdriver)—because you're right. It's only been a few days. For you. For me, well, it's been years. Ms. Selt, you've traveled in time.

Selt: I've done _what?_

Doctor: Traveled into the future, to be exact. My best guess is that the energy given off during the time machine test transported you. So, it did work. Just not for him. It was lucky, too; I could have stayed here forever, until you came along.

Selt: So you're saying…I traveled into the future?

Doctor: Yes, yes you did. Tell me, Ms. Selt, you've been around here a lot, where's the nearest computer?

Selt: Well there's one in that room next to you, but they're all broken.

Doctor: Well that doesn't matter, because they've stored data, and they're probably all connected to the time machine, and if they're connected to the time machine, and they all have data, then I should be able to find out what's wrong, and how to fix it.

Selt: Alright, then. You try that. I'll just be out here.

(The Doctor smiles and enters the room. A sonic pulse is heard, then silence. He slowly walks out of the room, staring at his sonic screwdriver, then up at her.)

Doctor: That's impossible.

Selt: What is it?

Doctor: It was an overload. An energy overload. My blood was too much for it. That's why it malfunctioned. I had too much time energy.

Selt: So what happened?

Doctor: Everything. Everything, all at once. But just here, in this spot.

Selt: What does that mean?

Doctor: My time energy. It went into the machine, but then it overloaded, sending all of that energy out into the open. It created a convergence.

Selt: A convergence of _what?_

Doctor: Time. All times are happening, right now. It's not harmful, not at all, because it's just here, in this tunnel. All of time is happening at once.

Selt: So how do we fix it?

Doctor: We can't. It was impossible to begin with, so it's impossible to fix. I'm sorry, but it's completely irreversible.

Selt (tearing up): My family. They're gone. They won't know where I am. They'll never know where I am, and it's all because of you!

Doctor: I had to save the others, Ms. Selt, it was my duty. If they hadn't left, the situation could have been much, much worse.

Selt: So why are you still here, Doctor? If the energy sucked up everything, then why are you here? Why am _I_ here?

Doctor: I caused this malfunction. It came from me, so I was preserved. You, however, were transported via the time machine and were protected by the time vortex.

Selt: So what do we do, Doctor? What could we _possibly_ do?

Doctor: I don't know. But trust me, even though the problem can't be fixed, it's perfectly harmless. No one was hurt. Your family is safe in their own time. They don't know that this is happening. Now, we'd best get out of here. Go into the tunnel and get some fresh air.

(Suddenly the Doctor winces and bends down, holding one of his thighs. He grunts as he pulls a red-hot TARDIS key from his pocket.)

Doctor (widening his eyes and looking back through the window behind him): Ms. Selt?

Selt: Yes?

Doctor: Have you heard any strange noises lately?

Selt: Well…I think so. About an hour ago. Why?

Doctor: What did it sound like?

Selt: I don't know. It was some sort of mechanical whooshing noise. I had no idea what it was, but it gave me quite a fright.

Doctor (grinning as though he'd never been happier in his life): We'd better go. I think I have some answers.

(They run out of the room, up the lift with the help of the sonic, down the hallway, and through the storage area to the storage door. They walk down the stairs toward the TARDIS, which is in the exact same place as it was last seen.)

Selt: What's this?

Doctor: This, Ms. Selt, is my blue box.

(He opens the door giddily with the burning key and suddenly appears concerned, looking down at the TARDIS floor. He looks worriedly back at Ms. Selt, and then drags Emma's body out of the TARDIS.)

Selt: Oh my god!

Doctor (laying her up against the tunnel wall): It's alright, it's alright, she's fine. A little fresh air will make her better in no time.

(The Doctor takes a seat next to Emma and motions for Ms. Selt to join him.)

Selt: Who is she?

Doctor: Emma Fredericks. My…friend. I travel with her.

Selt: What's happened?

Doctor: Nothing to worry about. She'll be fine.

Selt: So…

Doctor: What?

Selt: You…said you had…answers.

Doctor: I do. Would you like to hear them?

Selt (chuckling): Obviously.

Doctor: I think I know how I got here. You don't hear the people, do you?

Selt: No…

Doctor: That's because you're not a Time Lord. See, I can hear them, Ms. Selt. All of the times that have converged into one, right here in this tunnel. Now, since they're all here at once, they're blurred, so you can't see them. And I just happened to bump into your time. I was right there where you were going to walk, so you bumped into me, and by doing that, you transported me into your timeline. I was transported into the past, and the TARDIS was left back in the future, with Emma, which is right now. The past me has already left, gone into your time period. And the only reason the key sensed the TARDIS back there was because its energy was written all over that door. I could get in, but you couldn't, because you don't have any time energy. That man was brilliant. Using the time energy to his advantage. Great thinking. Very human of him.

Selt (after a pause): So, this Emma, she travels with you?

Doctor: Yes.

Selt: But you're not…

Doctor (shaking his head): No.

(The Doctor stands up, moving toward Emma.)

Selt (standing as well): Are you going to leave me here? When you go?

Doctor (smiling at her): That's your choice. (He continues forward and picks Emma up).

Selt: Well, you see, the thing is—I've really got no one here, now, so it wouldn't really be any use staying here, and your box looks a bit cramped, but—

Doctor (his head peeking out of the TARDIS): Well, are you coming or not?

(Ms. Selt grins, and then runs toward the TARDIS door, but the Doctor stops her at the entrance.)

Doctor: Prepare to be amazed…

(The Doctor turns around and begins to lead Ms. Selt through the doors. But as he does, there is a sudden flourish of energy, and the Doctor turns around to see a once more empty tunnel. Understanding what had just happened, the Doctor appears solemn and closes the TARDIS door. Fade out on the TARDIS dematerializing.)

[END OF PART 2]


End file.
